Winnovators – our exciting employee programme

Could you solve an international water, sanitation and hygiene problem?

In our signature global employee development programme, teams compete from across the world to solve a real challenge from our work. Winnovators raise money, share ideas and develop new skills and leadership qualities along the way.

Sydney Water ‘Team Praan’ were one of 13 Australian corporate teams participating in Winnovators, an employee development program run by WaterAid. As the global overall winners for 2018 they will jet off to India to see WaterAid work and test their “Poo Switcheroo” sanitation solution.

Steel Mains CEO reflections from 2018 Winnovators

“This was a great program to be involved with. As first timeparticipants the Steel Mains team did a fantastic job - and had a lot of fun along the way. It was great to see the enthusiasm and passion in which they approached the challenge. Great outcomes in both personal learning and fundraising for the vital WaterAid work. Well done team.”

What's in it for you?

For managers, Winnovators is an innovative form of staff skills development, making it a great way for you to enhance your employee offer.

For businesses, Winnovators is a unique corporate and social responsibility programme, enhancing business profile while contributing ideas and funds to tackle the global water, sanitation and hygiene crisis.

For team members, it’s a fun learning experience that helps develop creative and critical thinking and deepen your relationship with your team – all while raising your profile in your company.

92% would recommend Winnovators to others

96% developed skills that can be applied in the workplace

92% achieved personal learning objectives

How does it work?

Your team of ten people will tackle a real water, sanitation or hygiene challenge from a country where we work. To win the chance of visiting that country, you’ll compete with teams around the world to find innovative solutions to the problem.

You will learn new ways to engage internal and external stakeholders while raising valuable funds for WaterAid.

Winnovators is a great opportunity to develop your skills and rise to a new challenge. To take full advantage of it, you’ll need to commit to around two days a month over the duration of the programme, which lasts from March to September each year.

We give you everything you need to solve the challenge, fundraise and learn. Our Winnovators team will support you every step of the way.

What do we need from you?

If you're an employee who would like to take part, you'll need the backing of your company and line manager and a team of six to ten people to commit to at least two days a month during the nine-month programme.

We'll provide the resources you need to solve, fund and learn – you provide the commitment and enthusiasm! Please see the FAQs below for more information about financing the challenge.

Get your team on board

"We are all so glad to have been involved in such a meaningful and rewarding project. It’s been an incredible journey on which we really feel like we’ve developed as professionals and been able to channel our creativity. We would really encourage other businesses and teams to join in with this brilliant challenge."

Nick Blamire-Brown - Team Aspara, Anglian Water, joint 2016 winners.

"The Water Innovators programme has been a great learning experience for our graduate talent. Our teams worked hard to solve a complex real-world problem, bid for seed funding and thought creatively about how they could raise funds."

Frequently Asked Questions

You will then be emailed links to further forms for your team and project sponsor.

The deadline for applications is 1 March.

What are the different challenges?

The Solve challenges are:

Colombia

Engage in an indigenous territory based on a network of schools that service the Wayuu population in La Guajira to support the implementation of new national rural WASH policy. Projects of interest for this challenge include strengthening a sustainable services model based on multiples sources for multiple uses, creation of a market for water treatment and storage solutions, and implementation toolkits for the various stakeholders.

Develop a low-cost retrofit design for existing toilets in marginalized and low-income households so that the toilet can cater to the needs of all genders, the disabled, children, and the elderly. Engagement plans in the household and beyond are needed to educate and ensure proper uptake.

For this program, we ask that your company underwrites the seed fund provided by WaterAid, in case your team fails to deliver a minimum profit.
We also ask that your company gives your Winnovators team time and support, so they can really excel and you can maximise the value for your company.

What's the prize?

For the 2019 program, one lucky team will be crowned Global Overall Winner and get to visit our work in country (terms and conditions apply).

Colombia where 1.6 million do not have access to safe water and 7.5 million live without sanitation facilities

eSwatini (formerly known as Swaziland) where 1 in 3 people do not have access to clean water and 2 in 5 people do not have access to a decent toilet

India where 44% of people still defecate in the open and only 57% of people use the improved water supplies available

How does Winnovators benefit the chosen country?

Ideas and solutions are shared with – and judged by – the feature country for them to put into practice.
The funding aspect means that in 2016, the Winnovators teams raised over $244,000 for our work.
The overall winner of the 2017 Winnovators, Scottish Water, will go to Nicaragua and test out the solutions generated by their Winnovators team & report back on their progress.

How do we judge teams?

We have experts from across WaterAid who judge the three core components of Winnovators: Solve, Fund and Learn within the team submissions.

The judging panel is made up of technical experts (solve) fundraising experts (fund) and members from our people development team (learn).

Teams are judged in accordance to the award categories and guidance (provided when they teams start the programme) for what the judges are looking for.

The competition is split into regions with the winners from each region entering the final to compete against each other. One of these regional winners is then crowned the global overall winner.

Note:

To qualify to be a regional or global winner, the team must excel in all three areas of solve, fund and learn and also raise more than $10,000.*

The global winning team then visit the focus country to test their ideas, and feedback to participating teams the difference the ideas and fundraising has made.